So long story short i lost control at like 15 and hit a curb with the front driver tire, and then the back driver tire. Well i hit it hard enough that the front tire is turned like a quarter of a steering wheel rotation (off centered) when the wheel is centered and the right side tire is centered. I f***** up and i feel like a dumbass. I ve driven in 2 winters and never had a problem but i got stupid and this is what happened. So i was thinking, control arm bent? tie rod bent? I looked under when i jacked it up but i couldnt tell it all looked relatively good... when i drive (10mph to get home) the car vibrates since the wheels are going in opposite directions basically. So Im assuming i bent something and will have to get that fixed and then get an alignment. Pics to come soon... but for now any ideas, i want to get it fixed asap by a friend so i have it for work and school....

Ugh

 

Don't you have a parts car? Swap control/tie rods from that...

 

bent control arm, gusset, inner tie rod, and wheel.

 

These are the possible suspects? Tomorow in the light il jac kthe car up and take a good look, bent wheel? as in the rim, i dont think the rim is bent but not saying its not, and to the previous post, yea i could use the parts cars parts but the bushings are probably bad and eh i dont want to deal with something going wrong with it but if they look good i could....

 

wait, did u still want the headlights or not anymore, jw.

 

Yes Johnny is a bad influence

Bushings are the least of your worries, you need to get the new unbent parts on there first. Might want to see if brian has any stock bushings or can get es bushings quick, that way you can have at least one side poly already.

~Alex

 

PM Sent, not trying to be OT.

edit: your mailbox is full...

 

well we were just having fun and i mean im a stupid kid i do this stuff all the time, especially in snow and usually i get around and out of hitting things but not this time...So alex wat do you think could be causing this issue, i mean the wheels are like this...... \ / , just to a lesser degree. and i know its hard to tell w/o seeing anything but yeah... at least i hit the wheels i havent refinished yet, something good...

 

matt got the front and you probably bent the rear parralell link and johns and expert with replacing those. But jack it up and inspect every thing and make sure all the snow is gone/melted.

The big thing is making sure the mounting points for the LCA aren't bent and the rack isn't screwed up.

~Alex

 

Haha damn right, done it like 4 times! 2 bent links playing in the snow, 2 times doing the ES poly bushings, not to mention pulling links out of JY cars both times that I ****ed mine up

Now, for your car its a diff story cuz your impact was mainly absorbed from the front wheel...making me thing your parallel links are fine.

its funny cuz this happened right when I was gonna start video recording... sorry kev had to laugh

 

don't do anything...
go to the alignment shop and see what they say it's bent.
there's no way for you to determine what's bent unless you have a nice lift and start measuring points on the car.

 

its way to vague on what could acutally be damaged...

 

If its as far off as he says it is, there's very likely going to be at least some visible damage. not all of it may be visible, but I'm going to bet the control arm and/or inner tie rod are bent. they seem to be the first to go on things like this.

hell he might have even bent the steering knuckle. seen that happen a few times. (remember Blackandwhite's nice rollover when his broke? it was from hitting a curb like this months before).

 

Don't be too hard on yourself about it either, we were all young once, and I'd bet most of us have had our share of stupid accidents. I have certainly managed to mangle my fair share of parts, and two of my cars were beyond repair when I got done with them, that is how you learn.

If things are bent so bad that it is hard to drive, you might be able to figure out what bits are bad just by looking very carefully at it. Replace anything that is obviously fubared, and then take it to a shop to have them give it a good once over, and align it if everything is good.

 

can't he just crank the tie rod adjuster until it is at least somewhat driveable, to prevent toe-in/out scrubbing, in the meantime until he gets it fixed?

 

He needs to replace all the bent/broken parts before he drives the car another 5 feet!

You/him have no clue what has happened under there,he could have broke the control arm/c/a gusset bolt/ball joint/whatever..

92gxe/cg2..Absolutely do not drive the car until the effected parts have been replaced!!

 

true, i was operating under the presumption that he had just bent the tierod that was causing a bad toe situation. and i saw a honda (need I say more?) this morning going 70ish on the highway that had SUCH BAD netagive camber on the rear driver tire that the outer corner of the tire was not even touching the ground. i passed it promptly.

but yeah i agree now, considering that we don't know what's wrong, that he should just drive John's car instead until he gets his own fixed...

 

If anything is bent that far, there's a chance it could break and fail at any moment while driving. some of these parts are cast steel, and they can fracture if bent to that point. the others are all heat-treated steel to make them stronger, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're not going to snap if you try to bend them back.
best not to drive it anywhere, as has been said.

 

I will not be driving the car at all anymore of course. But i do want it fixed soon for work adn school. I think i might just order a new inner/outer tie rod and LCA (which comes new with a lower ball joint john said so thats good). I got these price at around 100 which is good. I really dont have much of an idea wat im looking or so icant diagnose the problem well s im going under teh assumption, just an assumption, that with a new inner/out tie rod and LCA my problem shuld be fixed and then all il needisan alightment. I doubt its the gussett bt i oculd just pick one of those up too right? I recently made a couple hundred off a fneder bender which resulted in no damage to me so i figure i can repalce some frontend parts now, specially since it has been acting up lately. What is everyones opinion on replacing th things i said i would? Thanks.

 

get us some pics of the underside front/rear suspension,remove the wheel/tire on the effected sides and take pics there also..

 

Yo, I hope its not your inner tierod (which is very possible) cuz I've never done one and from what I see...it doesnt look too fun.

 

yea from what i hear john, thats the linger tie rod and there for more susceptible to bending, so im gona order a new one, we can play it by ear together, get that thing in, if any problems arise, my neighbor is 72 and has worked on all types of things, altho sometimes i dont trust his judgement, he might know wat to do...

 

read the 4gen forum for a writeup on how to change the inner tie rod end.
the 3 gen is very similar.

 

Thanks for that tip but I've got the GFs father thats gonna take a look at Kev's car on Saturday and see what needs to be done. Whatever it needs, he can do it and I shall learn as I help him

 

So why are you fixing his car? he wrecked it!

 

Cuz we're gonna charge him an arm and a leg so he learns his lesson

 

Ok, i think i found the problem, the tie rod is the long rob towards the drivers door side of the car right? It looks bent and it looks like its mainly bent where it meets the boot in the back, to inner and outter tie rod probably screwed? Thats wat i think but i dont know too much so what does everyone else think? Thanks. Heres some pics....

 

looks like the arm is bent to me, but it's hard to tell for sure from the pics. the tie rods look straight

 

What he said.

 

dang, I just noticed I have more posts than you

 

I dont like the way you arranged those pics you animal. Try one below the other instead of how you did it.

I honesly cant tell anything from the pictures, oh well.

 

fixed john..

 

OK guys... on his top pic, just under the brake hose. that split-ness. Is that just a plastic shield or something he broke? I haven't got any good pics of my own so I don't know how mine looks.

 

Good God, you've been a darling all day today. Thanks Wayne! :

 

broken plastic splash guard..

 

Since OP hasnt updated, I shall.

My G/Fs father and I tackled the job yesterday. Changed Inner and outer tierod ends, control arm, ball joint, swaybar end link. And the GFs dad gave him a home alignment til' he can get the car to an alignment shop.

The bent? we didnt find. At least not me...BUT his ball joint was shot (very loose) his inner tierod was also very loose, his outer tierod was alright but meh,his swaybar link was also loose AND control arm bushings were pretty gone too. I'm gonna say this "accident" was for the best for Kevin. It really helped him update his front suspension a bit

 

And i found out that most shops dont do alignments on sundays and the ones that do only do them i nthe morning. Also i need my ball joints greased up or whatever, how long can i last with them ungreased, as i plan to have them grease when i get my wheels aligned mostlikely tomorow.

 

What shop did you try going to today?

 

Just Tires, a couple Gooyear and Firestone authorized shops, midas, etc. didnt go just called them all.

 

Weird,I think I got my alignment on a Sunday at Just Tires... 1992maximase30 can speak for me as thats where he works and where I met him lol